The 54-year-old Rajaratnam, who headed Galleon Management, was convicted in May on 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud for illegally using inside information to trade in stocks such as Goldman Sachs, Google, Hilton and Intel. The trading generated profits or avoided losses of $72 million, the government estimated.

"His crimes and the scope of his crimes reflect a virus in our business culture that needs to be eradicated," U.S. District Judge Richard J. Holwell said. "Simple justice requires a lengthy sentence."

Rajaratnam's actions were "brazen, pervasive and egregious," Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky said in court on Thursday, urging for the maximum punishment.

Holwell also decried Rajaratnam's offenses, saying "the government is absolutely correct that insider trading is an assault on the free markets that are a fundamental element of our democratic society."

The sentence was lighter than the 19.5 year minimum term that prosecutors had sought, and was only slightly more than the 10 years handed down recently to a former Rajaratnam employee at the now-shuttered Galleon Group hedge fund.

Rajaratnam was ordered to forfeit $53.4 million and pay a fine of $10 million. Currently out on a $100 million bail, Judge Richard Holwell has denied Rajaratnam’s request to remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction, and asked him to report to the federal correctional center on 28 November.

The judge, in rejecting calls for a tougher sentence, said Rajaratnam, faces "imminent kidney failure" due to advanced diabetes. He referred to a report from the defense describing Rajaratnam's doctors as recommending dialysis soon. The report said the doctors had begun the process for obtaining a kidney transplant.

"Prison creates a more intense form of punishment for critically ill prisoners," Judge Richard Holwell said. He added, however, that illness does not provide "a get-out-of-jail-free card."

“The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Rajaratnam is a victim of prosecutorial overreach,” said an investment banker of Indian heritage, whose firm’s policy does not allow use of his name.

Instead of going after the big fish, prosecutors socked it to a first generation immigrant as Raj is not part of the connected-elite. This isn’t going to stem illegal exchange of confidential information on Wall Street.

More than 200 letters were written on Rajaratnam’s behalf. He has also found surprisingly vocal support in the blogosphere and in stray media outlets like the Fox Small Business Channel and “The Daily Beast” which noted:

Rajaratnam was not a player in the 2008 financial crisis. Like Madoff, he’s a kind of consolation prize, a distraction from the fact that none of the meltdown’s central figures have even been indicted.

Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom from 1992 to 2007. Prime Minister of the UK between 2007 and 2010. Inaugural 'Distinguished Leader in Residence' at New York University. Advisor at World Economic Forum

Mario I. Blejer is a former governor of the Central Bank of Argentina and former Director of the Center for Central Banking Studies at the Bank of England. Eduardo Levy Yeyati is Professor of Economics at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution.

Vice President and Director of the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution. Former Turkish Minister of State for Economic Affairs. Head of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from 2005-2009.

James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University. Director of Program in International Finance and Macroeconomics at the National Bureau of Economic Research.